A Wichita, Kansas, man working as an avionic technician for an aeronautics company and possessing restricted access to secure airport areas, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison today for attempting to explode a car bomb at the airport in Wichita.

Kansas City, MO - infoZine - Terry Lee Loewen, 60, pleaded guilty on June 8 to one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Loewen was arrested in December 2013 when he tried to enter the grounds of the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport for the purpose of exploding a bomb. (The airport was recently renamed the Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport).

In his plea, Loewen admitted he came to the attention of the FBI late in May 2013 when he became a Facebook friend of a person who was posting comments advocating violent jihad. The FBI began communicating with Loewen through an undercover employee. After Loewen expressed his desire to engage in violent jihad, the undercover employee offered to introduce him to someone who could help him do it.

Loewen told the undercover employee he was waiting for what he called “the green light” from Allah to carry out a violent attack on a civilian target. He said that he did not expect to live through any of the attacks he had in mind. Loewen also said that he was inspired by the teachings of Osama bin Laden and Anwar Al Awlaki, and that he had downloaded thousands of pages of information on jihad.

In September 2013, Loewen sent photos of airplanes on the tarmac at the Wichita airport. He commented that he could have “walked over there, shot both pilots … slapped some C4 on both fuel trucks and set them off before anyone even called TSA.”

In October 2013, Loewen met with a second undercover FBI employee who Loewen believed was a “brother” and would help him blow up a plane. Loewen said that he had scouted the airport to determine a time and place for an attack that would be sure to kill as many people as possible.

Loewen assisted the second FBI employee in the final assembly of an improvised explosive device. He was not aware that the explosive materials used in the device were inert. In the early hours of Dec. 13, 2013, the second FBI employee picked up Loewen at a Wichita hotel. They drove to where the bomb was stored and finished wiring the device. When they reached the airport, Loewen used his badge twice at a card reader to attempt to get onto the tarmac before he was arrested.

Loewen was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Monti L. Belot of the District of Kansas.

_________________The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.- misattributed to Alexis De Tocqueville

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There Have Been More Jihadist Terror Cases in U.S. in 2015 Than in Any Year Since 9/11

By Michael W. Chapman | September 4, 2015 | 4:57 PM EDT

(CNSNews.com) – The “Terror Threat Snapshot” for August 2015, released by the majority staff of the House Homeland Security Committee, states the terror threat level in America is high and “getting steadily worse,” and that there have been “more U.S.-based jihadist terror cases in 2015 than in any full year since 9/11.”

The “Terror Threat Snapshot” also reported that the Islamic State “is fueling the Islamist terror” globally; that Islamist terrorists “are intent on killing law enforcement” officers and U.S. troops, as well as civilians; and that 25,000 fighters from 100 countries have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State.

In addition, more than 250 Americans have traveled, or attempted to travel, to Syria to fight with the Islamists.

“The terror threat level in the U.S. homeland is high, and the situation is getting steadily worse,” said the report. “There have been more U.S.-based jihadist terror cases in 2015 than in any full year since 9/11.”

In 2015 so far, there have been 30 U.S.-based jihadist cases, the committee informed CNSNews.com. In 2001, after the Sept. 11 attacks, there were only two U.S.-based jihadist cases uncovered that year, the committee said.

One of those cases involved Jose Padilla, also known as Abudullah al-Muhajir, a U.S. citizen convicted on multiple counts of criminal conspiracy related to jihadist terrorism; the second case was the Portland Seven, a group of American Muslims who were attempting to join Al Qaeda but were thwarted by the FBI.

For the August 2015 “Terror Threat Snapshot,” the majority staff of the Homeland Security Committee reported that, “In July alone, a terrorist murdered U.S. service members in Chattanooga, and authorities arrested extremists seeking to live-stream a terrorist attack on a college campus and planning to kill U.S. vacationers on the beaches of Florida.”

“The number of U.S. terrorist cases involving homegrown violent jihadists has gone from 38 in July 2010 to 122 today—a three-fold increase in just five years,” reads the Snapshot.

For those 122 cases, 80 percent of them “have occurred or been disrupted since 2009,” said the report. “Authorities have arrested or charged at least 48 individuals in the United States this year – 63 since 2014 – in ISIS-related cases. The cases involve individuals: plotting attacks; attempting to travel to join ISIS overseas; sending money, equipment and weapons to terrorists; falsifying statements to federal authorities; and failing to report a felony.”

On July 29, for instance, Arafat Nagi was arrested after he attempted to travel from New York to join the Islamic State.

On July 16, Youssef Abdulazeez attacked two military facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn., and killed four Marines and a Navy sailor.

The Snapshot further reported that since early 2014, “there have been 55 planned or executed ISIS-linked terror plots against Western targets, including 14 inside in the United States.”

In addition, “[t]here have been nearly twice as many ISIS-linked plots against Western targets in the first seven months of this year (35) than in all of 2014,” reported the committee.

The “Terror Threat Snapshot” can be read in its entirety here.

_________________The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.- misattributed to Alexis De Tocqueville

No representations made as to the accuracy of info in posted news articles or links

A Harrisburg man, who allegedly called for violence against 100 members of the U.S. military he identified on the Internet, was arrested today on charges of attempting to provide support to the Islamic State.

Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz, 19, a U.S. citizen, allegedly used social media to propagate “hateful rhetoric” and aid budding terrorists in their pursuit to travel overseas, according to Asst. U.S. Attorney General for National Security, John P. Carlin.

According to court papers, Aziz - who identified himself as "Colonel Shami" -- used at least 57 different Twitter accounts to advocate violence against the United States and to distribute ISIS propaganda. In one case, Aziz allegedly acted as a go-between, passing maps and telephone numbers, between a person in Turkey and several well-known members of ISIS.

Later the same month, Aziz, using Twitter account @Colonel_Shami allegedlytweeted "#IS 'Know O Obama, that we are coming to America and know that we will sever your head in the White House." The post included a picture of a beheading.

In April, using Twitter account @AnsaraUmmah2Bl, "Peform your Islamic duty. Support the Jihad with your wealth. Surah Baqarah (@:195) RT and Share DM for more info."

Enemy within: Yemeni with U.S. citizenship plotted to shoot American soldiers and tried to recruit militants to fight for ISIS from his New York pizza shop

Mufid Elfgeeh, 31, helped arrange travel and funding for ISIS recruitsYemen-born U.S. citizen put one in touch with an Islamist terrorist in Iraq He used Twitter, WhatsApp and 23 Facebook accounts to declare jihadElfgeeh bought two handguns and silencers that he planned to use to kill returning U.S. soldiersHe purchased a laptop and camera for two FBI agents posing as recruits, as well as paying for a birth certificate and an expedited passport Pizza shop owner in Rochester, New York, admitted two terror offences Plea deal could see him jailed for more than 22 years when he is sentenced

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